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Using corpora to inform the teaching of academic vocabulary

Date: Tuesday 5 April

Time: 15:00 GMT

What should we try to cover when we set out to provide vocabulary input for our EAP students? In this webinar, we look at how we can utilise corpora to understand academic vocabulary. Using frequency and keyword techniques, we can isolate the words and chunks that constitute the common core vocabulary all students will need for academic study. Corpora also reveal significant differences between academic writing and academic speaking. The webinar will pay particular attention to speaking in various academic contexts to see what they share with other kinds of speaking and what makes those contexts different.

Mike McCarthy is Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is the author of titles such as English Vocabulary in Use and Spoken Language and Applied Linguistics, and also helped develop the Cambridge spoken corpora. Academic Vocabulary in Use Second Edition, authored by Michael McCarthy and Felicity O'Dell, is now available. You can buy it direct from Cambridge University Press, from online retailers and from bookshops.